I applied to the University of Phoenix to finish my accounting degree in 2003. I only needed 30 more credits and thought that with all the other things going on in my life, an online degree program would be more convenient to finish what I needed to finish. I wasn't concerned with 'how long' it was going to take, I just wasn't able to afford the tuition outright.
I applied for a Pell Grant and was awarded one. My contribution was to be about $300. I thought everything was fine and started my classes but then got a bill in the mail for my classes. I called the financial aid office and told them that my Pell Grant was to cover the classes but they said that I filled out my form wrong that I sent them and that my qualifications didn't agree with what I submitted to FAFSA. I asked them to change it and they said they would and fix the problem. Their excuse was that they had an outside company doing the paper work for the student loans (I later found out that it was the Apollo Group that is also owned by UOP!) and they didn't have any control over what they did... I should have been more careful filling out the form. I put down that I had 3 children as dependents and they said I put 0. I faxed them a copy of the form I filled out for FAFSA and thought all was well.
After 3 classes I decided that the whole thing was a rip-off because the classes had nothing to do with accounting and were only UOP's requirements -just a way to make more money.
To get to the core of this, I have been left with $15,000 worth of student loan - none of my Pell money was ever applied and I never got a response from them after sending a letter and numerous emails and phone calls to resolve this.
I want to know if they got the Federal money and still charged me for the classes and why did 3 classes cost close to $10,000 - the rest of it is interest after deferring for awhile! Something about all of this stinks and on my own, I'll never get it resolved.
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